And whoosh! The McGonigal spy story is gone!

Was there ever a conspiracy theory more bizarre, more crazy, than believing that Russia was behind Trump's unexpected 2016 election victory? 

But just because something sounds crazy doesn't mean it isn't true. 

For years now, I have believed somebody close to Trump was working for Putin - Trump himself is too stupid to play a spying role himself, and too ill-informed, but he is also so credulous it is easy to get him to believe just about anything. Far too often Trump and the people working for him did or said something for Putin's benefit, too many times to be explained by mere coincidence. 

So now a guy high-up in the New York office of the FBI has been arrested and charged with working for Russia. Quel suprise!

So to be clear, McGonigal was running the FBI's Trump-Russia probe at the moment this story -- at the most critical moment of the 2016 -- was leaked to the New York Times https://t.co/K4FfJW5pz6

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) January 23, 2023

ICYMI: FBI official who led the 2016 investigation finding *no link* between Trump & Russia Charles McGonigal arrested for taking💰from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska— who Manafort owed MILLIONS While working for Trump *for free*

Russia was never a hoaxhttps://t.co/tcYf5eESMJ

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 24, 2023

Funny stuff

First, a few recent cartoons:

Today's News: Another one gone

One of our growth industries these days is baby boomer deaths -- today, it was David 

Crosby:

 

“If you're sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Crosby.”

HT: @simonpegg 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/9VKXwIhA3M

— Stuart James Lord (@stuartjameslord) January 20, 2023

Start banking your sick days for when we lose Neil Young

— I would prefer not to (lolennui@mstdn.social) (@lolennui) January 20, 2023

On a lighter note:

I have to say, out of all the ways I pictured technology might advance… dystopian, utopian, increased convenience… I did not anticipate the degree to which it would change in stupid ways to intentionally piss me off just so some dudes could make a buck. https://t.co/tdGFOrdqMk

— WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) January 20, 2023

HAL: The door will open after the following ads.

DAVE: I’m running out of oxygen HAL! Skip the ads!

HAL: The algorithm suggests people who are dying like these ads.

DAVE: I wouldn’t be dying if you’d open the door.

HAL: Updating algorithm interests to include more “dying”.

— WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) January 20, 2023

Ukraine update - Bob Rae: "To base decisions on fear would be devastating for democracy"

I'm doing a Ukraine update every two or three weeks now - my last one was Dec 28, when I talked about the resilience and courage of the Ukraine people.

Tonight's update covers the recent events in Dnipro, as well as analyst expectations for the future -- it isn't victory, not yet, but the shape of victory is becoming clearer, and maybe that riderless horse isn't galloping quite so madly across history.

First, these Russian attacks on civilians are horrific:

Russia’s attack on #Dnipro with a megabomb directed at civilians, combined with massive armoured assaults represent #escalation which must be met with the strongest possible response. To hesitate or base decisions on fear would be devastating for #Ukraine and #democracy

— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) January 17, 2023

"Russia is just continuing to act in ways that are almost unbelievable," Biden says in Oval Office during bilat with Netherlands' Mark Rutte. Rutte says they have seen the “terrible footage” from Dnipro and it has strengthened resolve to help Ukraine. https://t.co/Avz42Bnvu7

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 17, 2023

I'm so tired of Teh Stupid!

 

The question asked by nations around the world in 2016 was "Why is US politics so stupid?" because America's idiotic Electoral College system allowed Trump to become president even though he did not win the popular vote. 

Now nations will again be asking "Why is US politics so stupid" if America's idiotic Republican politicians allow the world economy to crash because they can't make a simple fix to their debt ceiling procedures. 

In both cases, America knew what the problems were but wouldn't or couldn't summon the political will to fix them. 

The United States already lost political prestige and influence around the world because of Trump -- it took Biden some time and lots of meetings to get the world community to forgive America for Trump.

Now America is risking its economic credibility and clout with the debt ceiling debacle -- and the easiest solution seems to be to print a trillion-dollar coin!

it is genuinely hilarious the entire financial system might be saved by a random poster with the username "beowulf" in the blog comments of a B list hedge fund manager who was like "why dont we just mint a trillion dollar coin" which was passed by word of mouth to Krugman

— Lucas 🧡🧦 (@PunishedLink) January 7, 2023

What a week!

 

Sad news from all over today:

Jeff Beck, Robbie Bachman, Lisa Marie Presley … gone. ☹️

Life is fragile folks. pic.twitter.com/XJ7FVj7pJu

— Larry Updike (@LarryUpdike) January 13, 2023

In other news, one has to wonder how incredibly stupid will this get?

For those playing along at home, Merrick Garland knew Trump stole classified documents as early as January 2021 and... took almost 2 years to appoint a special counsel.

With Biden, it took Garland 2 months.

I keep trying to tell you guys that Merrick is a pathetically weak man.

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) January 12, 2023

Increasingly, I am convinced that Garland will never have the courage to indict Trump for anything - I doubted he would do it even before the Biden documents were announced, but now it would likely be impossible. Oh well.... 

Some things to think about, when you have a minute...

Here are some predictions for 2023 from Visual Capitalist

Here's something else to ponder:

Andrew Wyeth, Fence Line ,1967,watercolor on paper
21.9 x 30"

"I prefer winter & fall,when you feel the bone structure of the landscape-the loneliness of it,the dead feeling of winter.Something waits beneath it,the whole story doesn’t show."
—Andrew Wyeth pic.twitter.com/pxSqBZyrvN

— Edward Elderman (@edwereddie) December 20, 2022

And here's another:

When you’re Godzilla every city is a walkable city

— stoned cold fox (@roastmalone_) January 9, 2023

Some neat stuff

And here's some more neat stuff.  First, some great articles -- 

- From the New York Times, a 2023 Astronomy and Space Calendar that you can add to your Google calendar, plus an article about how the Calendar was developed. 

Here is the tweet about it:

How 552 episodes of "The Simpsons" led to me building a space and astronomy calendar for @NYTScience that is now in its sixth year. Gift link so you can read it: https://t.co/OkCOTtvfbx pic.twitter.com/6jinKiLdGW

— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) January 9, 2023

Finally the crazy is over!

Yeah, sure.

I spent the evening watching the US House of Representatives try to elect a Speaker. Finally, they did. Just barely.

A head of lettuce

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 7, 2023

Today's News: Update on Covid

I haven't posted much about the Covid news lately, but I have been gathering together some of the articles and tweets that seem to summarize the most helpful advice right now.

TL,DR: wear a mask, damn it!

Animal crackers

“I had dozens of utterly bizarre experiences that were also Perfectly Normal. This is because the human condition is vast and also Very f*ck*ng Weird.” (cc: @PaulDechene) #PublicTransport https://t.co/evb0ELqgEr

— Schmutzie 🦉 (@schmutzie) January 1, 2023

The Dogs of 2022 pic.twitter.com/jiDzh4GhHg

— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) December 30, 2022

Happy New Year!

✏️ As drawn by @AnnTelnaes: Hoping for a better year ahead https://t.co/3Rqp9s3sjf pic.twitter.com/DhESNz78dh

— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) December 31, 2022

To bring in the new year, I have gathered some of the funnier posts I saw over the last few weeks. 

It's another edition of "Christ, What An Asshole!"

So one the dude-bros that Musk let back onto Twitter in November was the "social media personality" and wealthy kickboxer Andrew Tate - and it didn't take long before Tate indulged himself in needless, gratituous, misogynistic insults:

Hello @GretaThunberg

I have 33 cars.

My Bugatti has a w16 8.0L quad turbo.

My TWO Ferrari 812 competizione have 6.5L v12s.

This is just the start.

Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions. pic.twitter.com/ehhOBDQyYU

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 27, 2022

Twitter exploded - here's a typical reaction:

Kinda creepy how a grown man wants to randomly email a teen out of the blue... Creep Factor: 10 out of 10.

— Mark Bignell (@MarkBignell) December 28, 2022

Keeping up with the Ukraine War

The resilience and courage of the Ukraine people is one of the most inspirational events our society has ever seen. 

This New York Times photo essay Ukraine Under Attack: Images from the Russian Invasion shows what Ukrainians have had to endure:

Kyiv apartment residents manage with makeshift electricity during power outages, November (Lynsey Addario NYT)

Some amazing Christmas stories

For millions of people in Canada and in the US, it has been an awful Christmas - terrible weather, monster storms, no power, cancelled flights, people stuck in transit. Dozens of people have died. 

The only uplifting aspect in this situation is the stories we are reading now about how ordinary people pitched in to do whatever they could -- stories of courage, resilience, and willingness to help. These people are extraordinary:

This is what America is all about! ⁦@NormOrnstein⁩ ⁦@semaforben⁩ ⁦@MaraGay⁩ ⁦@RevFredDavie⁩ ⁦@ChloeBreyer⁩ ⁦@JoeNBC⁩ ⁦@JoePotasnik⁩ https://t.co/jSsmb5vTvA

— Jerry Goldfeder (@JerryGoldfeder) December 26, 2022

They traveled from South Korea. They Got Stranded Near Buffalo:

....Then, on Friday at 2 p.m., with the storm already swirling and snow rapidly piling up, making roads impassable, there was a knock at the door. Two men, part of a group of nine tourists from South Korea that was traveling to Niagara Falls, asked for shovels to dig their passenger van out of a ditch.

And so an unlikely holiday weekend began, with the Campagnas welcoming the travelers, along with their driver, as house guests....

They spent the weekend swapping stories, watching the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve and sharing delicious Korean home-cooked meals prepared by the guests, like jeyuk bokkeum, a spicy stir-fried pork dish, and dakdori tang, a chicken stew laced with fiery red pepper. To the surprise and glee of the Korean guests, Mr. Campagna and his wife, who are both fans of Korean food, had all the necessary condiments on hand: mirin, soy sauce, Korean red pepper paste, sesame oil and chili flakes. There was also kimchi and a rice cooker.